My food & drink job: Euan Jennings, content creator, Vault City Brewing

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Meet the Team - Euan-1 (1)[96]

Name: Euan Jennings

Age: 25

Job title: Content creator

Company & location: Vault City Brewing, Edinburgh

Education: Aberdeen University, Business Management

Why did you decide to go for a career in food? I wasn’t looking for a job in the food sector specifically. However, I’m incredibly happy I have ended up in this industry. It’s fast-paced, exciting, creative and very interesting, especially for someone like me who never had a food background.

Explain your job to us in a sentence (or two): Creating all things content and marketing-wise for the business, from photography and videography through to marketing assets and general design work.

What does a typical day look like for you? We release so many beers that I’m usually looking ahead to the next releases and brainstorming the types of assets we will need for each one. Then I usually get to work on capturing the content we need, collecting the right props, dialling in the lighting and backdrops, collecting the new beers straight from the tanks (having a sip or two along the way!) and then capturing the images wherever the shoot may be.

I also spend a good chunk of each day working on various design assets that are needed, ranging from posters through to sales materials.

A brewery is a busy place so there’s almost always at least one exciting thing going on, so I usually capture a couple images or videos of whatever is going on each day on the floor of the brewery.

Tell us about how you went about applying for your job. The application process was pretty straightforward for me. I came across the opening online and after doing my research on Vault City and what they did I set all my efforts on getting a job with them.

I applied through all the job websites they were listed on and sent a couple emails to them directly as well (I’m sure they were sick of my emails by the end!). I then had a quick informal chat with the head of marketing and then was set the task of creating a promo-style beer video to demonstrate my skillset. Given Vault City make mainly fruit-based beers I picked a mango-flavoured beer to use in the video and gave it my all! After that I was invited into the brewery to meet the owner and the head of marketing in person.

The hardest question they asked was ‘Did I like their beers?’ and I panicked as I hadn’t managed to get my hands on any yet. Shortly after the meeting I was offered the role and was ecstatic!

“I’ve been exposed to so many new breweries that I had no idea existed, which has really opened my eyes”

What’s the best part about working for a food company? I’m sure it’s the same answer the world over, but it’s got to be the free food (or drink in our case). I’ve been exposed to so many new breweries that I had no idea existed, which has really opened my eyes to the sheer number of micro/small scale breweries that exist around the country that make some of the best beer I have ever tasted.

A close second to the free drink is definitely the brewery community. We do a lot of collaboration beers with breweries around the country and to have two companies in the exact same field working together, rather than competing against each other is amazing to see. Everyone wants to see each other grow and succeed and push their own boundaries.

And what’s the biggest misconception people have about working in food & drink? I think it would be that you must have some background, or expertise in the production of food and drink. While we are a small team, we have a pretty even split between production staff and office staff.

The industry needs people with skills not only in making the product but also managing, selling and promoting the product, so regardless of your background you will be able to find something you can do in the food and drink industry.

What advice would you give to other young people looking to get into the food & drink industry? Go local and go small. Wherever you are in the country there will always be small scale local food or drink companies producing something unique and tasty. You’ll most likely be able to get hands-on experience at multiple levels of the company and potentially the chance to grow with them.

What’s your ultimate career dream? Our current marketing team is just me and the head of marketing, so I’d love to see the team grow and see the scope and scale of the content we are making grow. I also love all things tech as well, so I’d love to always be using the most up-to-date tech available to capture interesting and unique content.